The Fountain
by hollywooddove
Summary: Walter Springer finds a fountain with mythical powers and hopeful promise.
1. Chapter 1

The Fountain

Shakily, the fingers held to the edge. A giant cookie cutter could not have stamped out a more perfect circle than this hole in the ground. In only a moment of time, what was solid ground was now a wide and dark pit. The fingers were becoming fatigued, and the feet dangled in the blackness, and the settling dust filled the lungs, and there was no bottom in sight. Walter Springer coughed out some of the dust and muttered, "I couldn't have picked a worst time to sweep." He tried to call out the name Anne, but that only resulted in a hacking cough. Bordering the edge of the hole was four walls and a wooden stair way leading up into the house. Now the basement had… a basement, it seemed.

Walter said to himself, "I suppose this is fitting. I've been clinging over nothing for some time now." He even managed a small laugh, "I want to be surprised," and he coughed, "but I have felt as though the bottom has fallen out since we moved to this retirement community." He strained to pull up, but could not, ending in a hacking wheeze. "Don't have the strength to pull up. Don't want to just let go, either. Stuck - (cough, cough) - Just stuck in misery."

Laughing and choking a bit more, Walter could remember a time when he would have been prepared for the ground falling from beneath him. He couldn't believe with his expertise in life that he was now in this predicament. He could only shake his head in dismay. Walter closed his eyes, something he always did when under stress, even though he was submerged in darkness. He then said out loud, "I can recall a time when this would have thrilled the hound out of me."

Walter had been in caverns dug by man and naturally, searching and digging for decades, unearthing secrets. So much time he had spent beneath the ground, mesmerized and compelled to it. Now it seemed what he had loved the entirety of his life had sneaked up on him and was trying to kill him. Walter couldn't decide if that was irony or comedy.

At last, Walter was able to take a deep breath. There was less dust clouding the air. "I can do better than this. I know better than this." A renewed strength and determination rippled through Walter's grasping digits. "I haven't forgotten all I know, and I know there is a way out of this other than just brute strength. I didn't learn all I have learned to die from this."

Walter thought about calling for Anne again, but a more clear mind considered the danger she could be placed in coming down the steps into a cellar with no floor. It would take little less than a slight stumble coming down the steps and she would spill into the dark pit. Of course, Anne's health issues made this scenario all the more plausible.

Walter could not feel a foothold, but he knew this was typical of a sink hole. Instead of moving his foot forward, he slowly swept his right foot to the left. It tapped something, and there was hope. Slowly he repeated the move, a bit larger sweep, and he found a foothold. Firmly he began to walk his fingers to the left along the broken basement floor until his body was straight vertical again. Each pass gave Walter a higher step, and such he made a slow ascension along the lip of the hole. After finally gaining enough height he easily crawled back up to the basement floor.

"Free, in a manner of speaking," he said as caught his breath.

Anne Springer's mouth was open almost as largely as the gaping hole she was observing in the basement floor. She considered wiping her glasses, just in case it were some sort of crazy illusion of shadows. She scratched a finger in her grey hair and said, "Walter, how can this be? I didn't hear or feel anything up in the house."

Walter was gnawing on his lower lip, something he would do when anxious or excited, "It's a sink hole, sweetheart . It almost got me. We do live in Florida, now. No other area in the United States has more sink holes than Florida."

"So, we have to call the main office and have them arrange a new home for us," said Anne.

"What in the world for?" asked Walter.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep at night, Walter. What if this entire how is swallowed up by that thing?"

"Ah," Walter waved a casual palm, "Unlikely that thing will get any bigger. It's done it's thing."

"Walter, you can't be serious. We pay this community to live in a good, and let me emphasize this next word, SAFE home. I'm going to call Sheila."

"No!" Walter said, "We'll be fine. Let's stay here."

Anne gasped, "Walter Springer, you are not going down in that hole. You are retired. We both are. I did not make it this far with you to have you fall and die in some sink hole in the basement of our retirement house."

Walter snapped, "So, is that what you think of me now? I can't perform any longer? Washed up?"

"I didn't say that, Walter. You are, and always be a brilliant archeologist. You still have plenty of knowledge to share through counseling and writing. But you aren't a young man anymore. I am not a young woman, either. I remember how many close calls you had climbing down in places like this, and that was when you were in peak condition. You haven't done anything like that in years."

"I'll be careful, Anne."

"No, Walter. I mean it. I am calling Sheila and we are relocating."

"Anne, you're over reacting a bit. It's settled. It's just a hole now. I can climb down in it and right back out, with a ladder. I know my Indiana Jones days are over."

Anne pierced her brown eyes, "Walter Springer, you have always had a hard time closing that chapter in your life. We are supposed to be moving forward in a new direction."

Walter laughed sarcastically, "Moving forward, at this time in our lives? We aren't moving forward. We're just sitting and waiting."

Anne began to tear up, "You don't have to tell me anything about sitting and waiting."

Walter realized what his words could have implied, and he apologized, "I'm sorry Anne. I didn't mean it that way. You know I would never…"

She sniffed, "I know."

"I'm just a big mouthed old fool. Have you heard anything back from the tests yet?"

"No. Not yet. I've been in remission now four years, and the doctors believe the dizzy spells aren't related. We just won't know until the tests return."

"Sweetie, I am sure it's all going to be alright. You always were a bit dizzy if you ask me."

She laughed through her tears and said, "I had to be dizzy to marry you."

"I'll tell you what, let me check it out. I won't go in if it is too deep, or if it looks dangerous. I just want to go down and take a fast look. It won't take me long. After that, you can call Sheila and we will relocate."

Anne said, "You better not get hurt."

"Scouts honor," Walter said while doing the childhood salute.

A twenty foot step ladder was enough to touch bottom of the pit. The measured diameter of the hole was thirty feet. Walter stepped off the ladder in the bottom of the sink hole wielding a large flashlight. In all places he shined the light, he found exactly what he expected to, layers upon layers of eroded limestone. This was until he shined the light on what he at first though was a dark shadow of sediment and was revealed to be an opening large only enough for a large dog or a man to crawl through.

"Perhaps I was wrong," he said. "Maybe this hole isn't finished dropping, that certainly looks like another hollow area forming." Walter squat down and shined a light through the small opening. Reflections flickered about the side of the opening, and Walter found this odd. The limestone he was now in was dull, and absorbed the light flatly. Whatever was on the other side of the small passage suggested, at least to Walter, to have an entirely different composition.

He remembered his promise to his wife, only one look and he would be out; but the one look was not defined to be restrained to this one radius. With haste, he crawled through. On the other side was a pool of water, and he could hear it churning. This was not very surprising. He supposed the underwater spring had been slightly acidic and was probably what had eroded the limestone causing the sinkhole.

The churning though was a bit louder than what would be a trickling channel of water, it sounded more like a water fall. He traced the water along it's parameter and found it to be only a pool which was supplied by a fountain of water flowing from a stone orifice in the far stone wall. The stone spout had a very symmetrical stone at its head, almost too symmetrical to be organic. This, Walter knew all too well; it had been his life's work. "It's man made," he said, amazed. The head stone appeared to have something inscribed, but at this distance, and Walter could not make the writing out. The light was not strong enough.

Walter squinted his eyes and held the flashlight out at arms length in order to get a read. He was a bit awkward as he leaned forward, and his body lost some balance. In order to catch himself, he dropped the light and it splashed into the pool of water. The depth of the pool was only at arms length, it appeared, as the water proof light glowed on bottom. What amazed Walter more was the floor of the pool was sets of tiled stone.

Walter felt a euphoric rush tingle every square inch of his skin. It was a find. He could remember his first find, and the emotion swelling in him now felt very much the same. It was a rekindling of a love affair he had thought was well gone. He reached down in the water to grab his light and noticed a sudden darkness on the back of his arm. He quickly withdrew his arm. Walter rubbed the back of his arm to make sure there was no slimy ooze or fungus attached to it, and then slowly slid his arm back in. He watched carefully. What was the dark substance on the back of his arm? He rolled his arm to and fro, and noticed the dark substance swayed like human hair; dark, thick, human hair. He had not seen the sway of that hair since he was a middle aged man.

The amazement instantly flipped to fear as Walter considered the fact there could be some sort of fumes in the cavern causing him to hallucinate. This could be a sign of poisoning, he thought. With a gasp, he jerked his arm out and turned quickly on his haunches, leaving the light behind. He remembered the small tunneling to be right in front of him, and he could make out the darker proximity of it. Scuffling on his hands and knees, he shot forward, smacking his head on the stone. Reeling backward in pain, Walter fell into the pool of water.

Gasping, he popped his head out of the water, and when he opened his eyes he was no longer beneath the ground in the dark. The sun was shining intensely down on him, and he was surrounded by lush forage and palms. Walter turned and saw the fountain spout, which now he could read. It was written in Mayan, and looked as though it had been freshly carved. Walter read it aloud, "Waters of Life."

His foot hit the flashlight, and Walter leaned down to retrieve it. What he saw took his breath more than the cool waters he had fallen into; the reflection was that of a Walter Springer at least thirty years younger. Walter murmured to himself, "The fountain of youth. This is the fountain of youth."

From above the forage could be heard the words of Rod Serling, "The quest for eternal youth is not a new one. Records go back thousands of years illustrating human kind's attempts, both scientific and magical, and of course those people did not find what they were looking for. Walter Springer, now, is the exception for this club of youth seekers. Walter Springer, a man who has built a life in finding meaning of things very old, but has no capacity to do so when it is he who has become old. Walter Springer, a daring man, who has jumped into the shallow end of the deep side… of the Twilight Zone."


	2. Chapter 2

The conversation began exactly like this, "Walter Springer, where have you been? You have been gone for almost two hours, and why are you soaking wet?" Anne's demeanor was neither calm nor nice, and she reminded Walter often within the dialog that she was only a moment away from calling 911. Walter had made her worried sick, frantic, and given her an immense head ache. She wanted to call him some names, but digressed. Walter had a difficult time subduing her flaming anger this time.

When he told her he had been down in the hole that entire time, her anger only inflamed more. He made his best attempt to convince her that he had no idea he had spent so long down in the sink hole. For him, he reported, it had only seemed as long as forty five minutes or so. He could only chalk it all up to 'time flying when having fun.'

She threw her hands up in dismay when he told her had made a find. She knew full well what this meant in the world of Walter Springer. Everything he had said about moving to a new residence immediately was about to be renegotiated. But then she saw the look in his eyes when he said, "Anne, really. This may be the most important find of my life. It's astounding. I could tell you what it is, but you would only laugh me out of this room. It is best I just show you, because… well, you just aren't going to be able to take my word for it."

And of course, she had no intentions of going down in that sink hole. He told her, "It's just a climb down a ladder. I am going to point some larger lights down there so we can see our steps better, but I know you can make it down the ladder." She resisted, and he said, "Anne, normally I would not ask you to do this… but you have to see this. It's amazing… I can't even describe to you what I have found because…"

She finished his sentence, "Because I just would not believe it."

He smiled a boyish smile through his old eyes, "Yeah. That's right."

Walter was old again now. When in his young form on the other side of the fountain waters, he had wondered how he would ever get back home from the lush green world which he could only fathom as being in the past. He gave it a wild hunch and dipped back beneath the waters, and when he came back up, he was back in the present, and back to his real age.

With great reluctance, Anne agreed to travel down into the dark pit with him. He did set up shop lights, as promised, and the hole was not as deep as the darkness implied. It was also with great reluctance that she had crawled through the small opening to where the pool of water was. Walter had asked her to wear something she would not mind getting wet. She too, was a bit amazed by the pool.

Walter showed her the tiling through the water which lined the pool, "See, amazing craftsmanship. Those tiles are hand carved, and incredibly they appear to be each the same dimensions. Absolutely incredible."

Anne asked, "I have to admit, Walter, this is quite a find. How old do you think the pool is?"

Walter shrugged, "I am not sure. I would place it back at least three to five thousand years. But, Anne, you have yet to see the most amazing… well, just wait. This is amazing." He stepped down into the pool and reached up for her hands.

"You don't think I getting in there?" Anne snarled.

"Do you trust me Anne?"

She slowly took his hands and stepped into the pool. The water came up to their thighs. He smiled to her and said. "Now we are going to dip our heads under and come back up."

She did not give much resistance to the notion. She considered the fact that she had went this far with this insanity, and if it would get her out of here any sooner, then she would play along. The both sat in the shallow water and leaned their heads under, and when they came back up… they were still in the dark pit beneath the home, and they were both still old.

Anne opened her eyes and said, "You are right. That was super cold… just amazing."

Walter looked worried, "I don't understand."

The sat in the cool waters for an awkward minute, and Anne patted the back of his left hand, "Okay, this was fun. I am getting out now."

He gripped her hand, "No. Wait."

"Really, Walter. It's cold in here. I want out."

"Come this way, a little deeper." Walter led Anne to the left a bit, something akin to a watery waltz.

She exclaimed when he suggested they take another dip, "Walter, I really don't want to."

"Just one more time, Anne."

They dipped and came back up in the lush greenery Walter had seen before. He was holding hands with his wife, who now was in her younger thirties. He could not take his eyes from here. She was speechless, both from the vivid forage and also, and more so, from her husband, who also was in his young thirties. She asked, "How can this be?"

Walter caught his reflection, "I'm younger now than I was before. I am guessing it is because we had to step a little deeper in the pool. It's the fountain of youth, Anne. I have found the fountain of youth."

"Oh, Walter. Where are we? We don't know what we are messing around with here."

"We can't let this opportunity of exploration get away from us, Anne. I decided that the first time I came through."

"Walter, still. We don't know…"

Walter said, "What harm is there, Anne. Look at you, and look at me. We have the youth and strength, right here, right now, to explore as much of this as we want."

Anne said slowly, "This is too much to take in… at one time, Walter. I don't like it. We have no idea what is out here, what powers this thing. I need time to think…"

Walter growled, "Come on Anne; you can't cower out of this. It's a miracle. Our miracle."

Anne said, "I'm not so sure of that. And it doesn't belong to us. I don't think anyone could ever own anything like this."

"Anne, just listen…"

"I want to go back home, Walter."

"Anne…"

"Now, Walter. I want to go back now. How do we get back?"

Walter sighed, "Okay, but will you think about it?"

"I'll think about it Walter. I want to go back home."

Walter gripped her hands firmly, "It's easy, we simply dip back under again and we come back out where we came in."

They came back out in the dark, back to their true ages. Walter's sore shoulder gave him evidence of that, he didn't need a reflection from the water, a mirror, or otherwise. The left the pool and made way out of the pit, back into the house, where the phone was ringing. Walter was behind Anne, pestering her, "How long do you think you need to make your mind up?"

She said, "The phone is ringing, Walter."

After answering the phone, Anne was caught in a dialog in which she was trying to calm someone on the other end. She would use the name Carol, their daughter, and finally Anne herself exclaimed, "A week! I haven't been anywhere for a week, Carol. What in heaven's name are you talking about? No, Carol. I just spoke to you on the phone yesterday. It has not been a week. Carol, sweetie, are you alright? Has something happened?" Anne's mouth hung slightly ajar, "Today is not April the fifth, sweetheart." There was another pause, and Anne set the phone back in her hand and pressed a few buttons.

Walter asked, "What's wrong? What's all of this about?"

Anne said, "It's Carol. She is in a panic, says she has been trying to reach us for a week, both her and on the cell phones, and says she even has a missing report out on us. I don't know what is up with her, and… and… oh no." Anne's eyes were blank with fright, "Walter… Walter…"

"What's wrong Anne?"

"Walter, the date on the phone… we have been gone a week."

Walter seemed a bit alarmed, but tried to remain calm, "Well, that's ridiculous. We were only gone for a few minutes."

Anne place the phone back to her mouth, "Carol, dear. You were right, we were gone. We did something crazy, your father and I went on an unexpected trip… I know dear… we should have… you are right, next time we will always call first… yes dear… I am so sorry. Look, I have to let you go now, sweetie. I will call you back." She hung the phone up.

Walter said, "The very notion is just silly, Anne."

Anne replied, "No, no it isn't. It's no more silly than coming out of the fountain in a different world in our youth, Walter. We don't know what we are messing with here."

Walter said, "So, when we go back, we tell them we will be gone. We just call them and tell them we will be on a trip."

"We can't go back, Walter. I won't go back."

"Anne, I don't want to do this alone. We will go back only one more time. We will stay for a few minutes more, which should only make it a month or so. We'll tell the kids we are going on a dig, that I have been chosen to go on a dig, and that it is in an area where there is no communication."

"Do you think they will really believe that, Walter?"

Walter said, "Just one more time, Anne. We have to check it out, take some samples back with us."

"I really don't want to, Walter."

"One last time, Anne. We take some photographs, a few soil samples, and we come right back. I promise we will not stay long. We need some proof. I need…"

Anne nodded, she knew what this was all about, "You need to recapture your glory days, don't you? We can't stay there, Walter. We can't stay young in one world and leave all we have built and love and worked for in this world. We just can't do that. I won't do that."

"I have no intention of staying, Anne. But if I am going to make a presentation of this…"

"No, Walter. There is enough there already. You could make a call and a team would be here in a flash."

Walter croaked in anger, "So they can what? Steal it away from me? So they can make all of the discoveries first? I won't allow it, Anne. This is my find!"

"Can you stop, Walter? Can you stop after one more time? You already know you will get credit for this find. Can you stop?"

There was a pause, and Walter said, "Just a few soil samples and some photographs, and that will be the end of it on our part. Then I will make some calls and it will all be over, back to our… back to this life."

Anne sighed heavily, "One last time, Walter. And then, I will make the calls myself. And we get a bare minimum of photographs and samples." Walter agreed.

Later that evening, Anne found a stack of mail on the kitchen counter. One of the envelopes had the header from the Jackson Medical Diagnostics Group. Slowly she opened it and began to read. Her hands shook, and she exhaled a small moan. Her cancer was back, and it was in its last stages. She folded the page, and dropped it in the garbage receptacle. She wanted to tell Walter, but not now; not with this find in their basement. She feared what scheme Walter could hatch. Would he take her there to be young forever in the strange world in hopes of escaping death? It was absolutely possible. She would cry that night, alone.

On the next morning, Walter was on the phone with his daughter Carol, "Yes, Carol. We will only be gone for a month at the most. I will mostly be taking a some samples and giving some advisement on the dig. Unfortunately, we will be in a very remote area, I don't even think you will be able to get a telegram there…"

Once back inside of the fountain water, Anne and Walter prepared to make their next dip. Anne said, "Remember, in and out. I don't want to loose any more time here than is possible."

They dipped, came back up, and Walter said, "Hm, it didn't work again. It looks like every time we go in we have to go a little deeper than we did last time."

Anne said, "There is so much we don't understand about this, maybe we shouldn't go at all."

"This will be the last time. Let's just step a little deeper and go as quickly as possible."

When they emerged, they were both in their teens. Each of them could not help but laugh, standing in the pool, holding hands in what appeared to be paradise. Walter looked to their left and saw how close they were to the deepest end of the fountain, "Just as well," he said, "We are so close to the other end of the deepest end of the pool that it looks as though we could only make one or two more trips."

"I wonder what we would be if we came up in the deepest end," said Anne. "Would we be infants?"

"I don't know." The young Walter began to scoop soil samples and into a small vial, as well as some of the water from the youth side of the pool. "Hurry," he said as Anne took snap shots with her camera. Anne observed, "These plants look some differently than they did last time. Do they appear sort of wilted now?"

Walter said, "Hm, they do. Strange."

Anne said, once again, "We really don't know what we are dealing with here, Walter. This power, we have no idea where it comes from or what the terms are for using it."

"It has to be some sort of natural phenomenon, some sort of rip in time."

"What if it's not. What if it's a magic we have no place tampering with."

"There is no such thing as magic."

She shook her head, "You don't know that. Besides, let's say it is a natural phenomenon, maybe we shouldn't be tampering with that either."

In all, they took as much as five minutes, and were ready to return to their normal world. The two teens held hands, "Wow," said Walter, "I never knew you at this age. You were a real looker."

She only giggled like a young school girl.

Walter said, "Kind of sucks to go back. It would be nice if we could stay here."

Anne said, "It wouldn't be right, Walter. This is not our home."

He nodded his head, and it seemed as if Anne had one other thing to say, so Walter asked, "Is there something wrong, Anne? You look as though there is something on your mind."

"No," she said, "Let's just go back home." Though upon her mind weighed the report of her cancer, and again she wanted to tell him. She knew in her heart it would only give Walter ammunition in arguing that they stay in the world of the youth.

As soon as they came back out of the pool , once old again, Walter noticed he had an incredible pain in the shoulder which mostly was only sore before. He supposed using it so vigorously on the youthful side may have aggravated its condition. When they stepped into the light on the other side of the small tunnel, Anne immediately noticed something was not right. Walter was thinner, and his hair was much more grey than it had been when they had left.

Walter looked at his wife, and noticed she had a sickly hue to her skin, and her eyes appeared sunken and shallow. He said, "Anne, what has happened?"

She quickly went up the steps into the house and flicked on the phone and looked at the date. She gasped, "Walter, we have been gone close to a year."

Walter said, "What, how?"

"That fountain, Walter. We can never go back. Each time, we have to go deeper, and it makes us younger… but however it robs time from this world to give us time in that world, the amount gets steeper each time. We can never go back."

Walter nodded his head, "You're right. We can't go back. A year? Wow. Really? We lost a year?"

Anne said, "Yes, we have lost a year."


	3. Chapter 3

Walter had been watching Anne's eyes since they had returned, and he knew she was hiding something. They sat at the table in the dining room, a small round, two person nook with a ceramic flower pot in the shape of a rooster in the center, and each sipped on a cup of coffee. Walter asked Anne, "Is something bothering you? Are you angry at me?"

She averted eye contact with Walter, "No. I was just wondering."

"What?"

"I was just wondering how we could be missing for a year and everything in this house seems exactly the way we left it."

Walter paused a moment, "I haven't noticed. I guess no one bothered anything because they thought we would be back any time."

"Missing a year would have placed Carol in a panic. She would have gotten all branches of military and government to search us out; you know how she is. That's not the troubling things, though."

"What are the troubling things?"

"You look older, Walter. I look older. The date on the phone says we have been gone a year. But the coffee you are drinking is from the same can I purchased before we left. There wasn't so much as a speck of dust on it. As a matter of fact, there is not dust settled anywhere. Who would have came in here and dusted, and yet moved nothing around? Also, everything, and I do mean everything, in the refrigerator is just like we left it. Your unfinished sandwich is still there, with a bit taken out of it, and the bread is not moldy, and the tomato in it is as red and firm as ever."

Walter scratched his head, "What do you think is happening?"

Anne shrugged, still not making eye contact, "I don't think we are really back yet."

Walter chuckled, "Come on, look around you. You see where we are."

"Oh, I think we are back in the right location, I just don't know if we are back in the right time yet."

"That doesn't make much sense."

At that, she made eye contact with Walter, "Nothing about any of this makes any sense, Walter. I keep waiting to wake up from a dream, like none of these happenings really ever happened. But the dream keeps on going and going. Walter, that fountain, that thing down there, whether it is natural or not, it is doing something, working. Whenever there is work, energy must be used, and that thing has been doing work on time. It has… some sort of way to gather the energy of time and manipulate it. Now, I don't know if it has some sort of unique material or whether it is the result of a thousand blood sacrifices to some god, but someone knew what it could do, and facilitated it to cheat."

"Cheat? Cheat what?"

Anne said coldly, "Cheat time, Walter. Cheat time, and age, and possibly even cheat death. Only I don't think it was very successful. I don't think they got away with it."

"How do you know they didn't get away with it?"

Anne said certainly, "Because you can't cheat time, and you certainly can't cheat death."

Walter said musingly, "You don't know. Maybe they did cheat death. Or at least maybe they found a way to reset life. I mean, did you see what happened to us? We were younger, healthy on the other side. There was enough food and resources there to live another life. I think whoever built it was successful in doing something amazing. If we knew the secrets, if we just knew the secrets, we could prolong the life of anyone…"

"Walter, nothing has been prolonged. We are still aging. And what's worse, we have missed an entire year of our lives. We have missed so much with our loved ones, doesn't that mean anything to you at all?"

Walter slammed his fist on the table, "We are still aging because we came back! If we had stayed, we would be young right now. We would be happy."

There was a silence, not long, but very discerning, and Anne said, "Aren't you happy with your life?"

"I was. I'm not now. I keep loosing things as I get older. My parents, my career, my health. Time has taken all of these things from me, so pardon me if I don't have much moral argument against cheating time, or at least giving one heck of a shot. I would cheat time if I could, it certainly has cheated me."

Anne twiddled the handle of coffee cup and said, "Time also gave me, to you, and a wonderful, beautiful daughter, and a terrific son in law."

"And I would still have you on the other side."

"You have me now. Walter, you have me now."

Walter said softly, "Remember when we got the report, years ago, that you had cancer?"

Anne replied, "Yes."

"It was like… it was as if my entire world had been shut down. Everything stopped. Nothing else mattered except finding a doctor who would make you well. I wanted to cheat death then, at any cost."

Anne gulped a large knot in her throat and reached out to touch Walter's hand, "Walter, I need to tell you something. And I need you to be calm, and I need you to not freak out, and I need you to be strong."

Walter knew what was coming, he could feel the inevitable words that her cancer had returned hollow out his heart with it's dark spade. He began to gnaw on his lower lip, bracing himself on the one hand, and hoping on the other her words would be something else. He knew it would not be, though. He knew it would be those dreadful words.

"My cancer is back, end stage."

Walter would have thought this moment would have sent him to tears, but instead his heart flamed with a rage and his face flashed intensely red. He did not speak for a moment, and then he said, "How long have you known?"

"Since right before we went back through the fountain and gathered the samples."

His voice trembled, "How long do you have?"

"They gave me three months, five if chemo does well."

Walter began to smile, "Five months? Three months? A year has passed and you still alive. A whole year," his voice was now filled with joy. "Anne, we did do it; we did! We cheated it. We prolonged your life. It's a year past, and you aren't deathly sick even. We have to go back, for longer. Possibly even stay, Anne."

Anne had knew this was coming, and she said, "Walter, I won't go back. We don't know how long we have been back. The clocks say a year, but the surroundings say we haven't been gone at all. We don't know that we have prolonged anything."

"I know we have," Walter jumped up from his chair excitedly, "I know it, Anne. I just know it. We have to go back."

Anne said, "No. Walter I will not go back. And I don't want you to go back either. Walter, there is a natural order to the universe, and to us. It can't be cheated, and it can't be undone."

Walter was now angry again, "Oh, you are a stubborn woman. You saw with your own eyes. You saw you were younger. We have a few details to figure out…"

Anne laughed, "A few details? No. There is nothing to figure out which hasn't been figured out all along. We live, and we die. I don't want to leave my home again. When I do go, Walter, I want to be surrounded by all my life has built, and all that has gave meaning to me."

Walter said nothing and stormed from the dining nook. Anne herself was feeling quite tired, and made retreat to her bedroom, and lay down on the bed. The sun was high noon and incredibly warm on the front step where Walter stood. He remembered Anne's question, why had no one touched anything in their home? Why did it seem as if time had stood still, yet the clocks were reporting that a year had moved on?

Walter thought for a moment, and maybe a year had not passed. Maybe it was still the same day. Or maybe it was something in between, something he could not understand. What was important to Walter is that both of them were safe. There seemed to be no ill effect of the jump from the old world, to the young, and back.

Standing on the front step, Walter wiped the sweat from his forehead, "It's warm. Sure could use a breeze."

It was then Walter noticed there was no breeze blowing, absolutely none. Not a leaf on a tree twitched, not a blade of grass. And it was also around this time Walter noticed a speck high in his peripheral vision. At first, he dismissed it as a floater. Something about this speck would not leave him be. He turned his head to it, and a chill ran through his body. The speck was a black bird, still in the sky, not flapping, not breathing, not falling. It was frozen in one position in a single location.

When thinking back to it from a much harsher place, Walter would never be sure if it was his scream at the sight of the still bird which triggered the next events, or if it was time for it to happen and his scream was only a coincidence along with it. He did lean towards the notion it was his scream, that he had let the magic or the phenomenon know he was back around. From this moment forward it all seemed so much more personal.

Walter screamed, and the bird began to move. Slowly at first, very slowly, as if it were trying to flap its wings while in a thick viscous fluid, the bird began to move forward. The wings sped up at a constant rate until the bird was flying at normal rate, and then surpassed that, disappearing in a blink. Across the street, trees were violently thrashing their limbs about. Walter blinked a few times while his heart thumped, and he raced into the house. He called out, "Anne!" There was no answer.

He was making his way through the hallway when he heard a grinding roar, and it was coming from the cellar. He felt a droning vibration in the floor and through the walls. He opened the cellar door and looked down into the sink hole, which now had a railing all around it, and the edges of the pit had been lined with concrete and smoothed. The simple wood steps were now replaced with a flight of stainless steel stairs which made their way down into the pit itself.

Fear had Walter, tightly, in his chest and around his temples. He could not understand what he was seeing. His breath was almost taken from him when he saw his photograph hanging in the doorway of the basement. It was a framed picture of Walter on the cover of 'Time' magazine; the caption read "Walter Springer and His Incredible Find. The Lost Fountain of Youth."

Walter ran his fingers over his lips and muttered, "We were never… gone. It's like we were never gone. Time did not miss us here, and it's like we never left. Now it's catching up. Time didn't miss us, we missed time, and now it is catching up."

The scent of flowers now assaulted his nasal passages, and he turned to see the dining nook where he and Anne had just been sipping coffee was mysteriously full of flowers. Walter slowly approached the flowers, all of which had small cards pinned to them. He picked one of the cards and read it. He released the card to the floor.

It read: "Walter, so sorry for your loss. We all loved Anne."


	4. Chapter 4

Anne opened her eyes, but she saw nothing but a blinding light. She was hot, and she was holding to someone's neck. She heard a voice say, "Don't worry."

This was after Walter had made a wild run through the house, searching the parlor, the kitchen, the living room, the rest room, and all the while thinking, "It can't be too late, it can't be too late."

His thoughts almost had him seeing through a tunnel, "Time is catching up with us. Anne, the card was wishing me the best, Anne, where is Anne. She can't be gone. She was here with me; she was fine, she was alright. We cheated it. We cheated it, and it knows. She was always the smarter of us, and she warned me, it won't be cheated, or at least it won't be cheated easily."

As he made his run through the house, sometimes people would instantly show, some frozen in place, others zipping at a mad speed. He saw friends and strangers; he saw his daughter dashing about, and his son in law, and all of these people would pop in front of him, making his way in and out of the rooms difficult. If someone was frozen in place, he could not move them. If someone were dashing about, they would bump him and knock him to the floor. The scene was psychotic at best.

He yelped in the kitchen as he entered, there was some sort of celebration happening and a huge cake on the table. The cake knife had zipped by him in someone's hand so quickly he never saw and made a slash in his forearm. People who were frozen in place wielded forks, and to Walter they were as dangerous as any weapon he had ever seen. These paralyzed and flickering people did not see Walter, and could easily impale him with a utensil. He had to get by the kitchen to the hallway, there was only one place left to look for Anne, and that was the bedroom.

He made a run for it. A statue of a man popped in front of him and Walter bounced off it and to the floor. Walter rubbed a spot of blood from his mouth and said, "Okay. I won't give up. You can come after me, but I won't give up. I will get by you!"

Back up to his feet Walter made a second run from the center of the kitchen. Something he never saw caught him on the head, stabbing him with pain. It was a plate which had passed by faster than a bullet. A thick fresh bruise swelled on his forehead and he fell into the hallway. He almost blacked out. Walter pressed his palm against his forehead and growled, "You will not stop me! You won't do it!"

The stairway to the bedroom was void of anyone. He knew of he were headed up, and one of the zipping people were to come on the way down, they would run him over and it would be the end of this game. But it was now or never.

Suddenly, standing in the center of the stairway, a shadowy figure appeared. It was neither frozen nor rapid in motion; it moved at the same pace as Walter. There could be made out an adornment on its head, brilliant and tall. It's face was marked with paints, familiar to Walter's studies. The paints were Mayan in design. The figure pointed at Walter and its voice thundered, "Nyog Ogk Uuooosh.." Walter hissed back at the thing, "I will go right through you if I have to." The bright eyes of the figure glared at Walter, and it said softly, "Nyish, grootu." Walter roared back, "You better get out of my way! I will not let you stop me!" The ghostly man laughed, and faded away. Walter was shaking, yet he rose to his feet and ran up the steps and into the bedroom.

Anne was lying on the bed, motionless. "No," he croaked. "Anne?" He stepped to the bed and looked down at her fragile body. He shook her, but she did not move. "Anne? Speak to me Anne. Wake up honey." She did not move. It occurred to Walter that he could be too late. He leaned down and listened. Faintly, he could hear her breathing, and he instantly went to action. He ignored the raging pain in his shoulder as he lifted her from the bed and cried out with anguish, "I won't let you have her! Do you hear me? You will not take her from me, not her! I won't let you!"

As quickly and carefully as he could, he carried her down the stairs and into the hallway. He had no idea where he was finding the strength, but he knew he would not hold out long. He was at the cellar door, and down he walked, bracing himself to the stainless steel railing which led down into the pit. The small opening he and Anne had went through was now a tall, arched entrance lined with stone. Inside, the fountain gurgled. It almost sounded as though it were growling at him. There were walls constructed around the fountain, and lights overhead. He carried he in his arms into the pool and he heard her murmur, "Walter?"

"Just hold on Anne. Just hold on tight."

Walter knew he would have to go almost to the deepest end of the pool. Slowly he trudged through the water to where the water poured in. "When we get to the other side, we can start all over sweetie. We can start over. We have everything we need over there."

She could not open her eyes, she was far too weak, and she murmured again, "Walter?"

"Hush sweetheart. Just hang on to me. We'll be there soon."

She tried to open her eyes, but she could not. Not because she was too weak, but because it was unbearably bright. She said clearly, "Walter?"

"Don't worry. Everything is going to be alright."

She knew she was soaking wet, and her clothes were hanging absurdly on her. Finally she could see the bright blue sky. Anne looked for Walter, but she only found a young boy, maybe the age of ten. She asked, "Walter?"

The young boy smiled. She looked down below her and saw the crystal blue water, and the glowing apparition of a young ten year old girl looking back at her. "Walter, where are we?"

"It tried to come and get us, Anne. But I wouldn't let it. It was coming for us, you and me. I won though. You said we couldn't cheat it, but we did. We cheated time, and we cheated death."

Walter set her on her feet, and it made perfect sense to her why the glare was so bright. The green forage which had been there before was gone. Where it had been lush, and then wilting, now was replaced by sand., dunes and dunes of hot sand.

Walter said, "We won, we did it. We got away."

The fountain which had poured into the pool was now but a trickle, and she saw the water of the fountain was drying away. She felt hungry, but there was nothing to ear. She felt thirsty, and dropped to her hands and knees to drink the quickly disappearing water. She stood back to her feet and listened to Walter say, while standing proudly with his fists on his hips, "We won, Anne. I told you we could do it."

Anne grasped a handful of sand and watched it run from her closed fist. Where had she seen this before? The sands of an hour glass? There was enough sand here to run on forever.

Walter said, "We cheated it, Anne. We are eternally young now. We won."

Anne whispered, "I don't think so."

From far above the desert, unheard to them, but resounding against the sands of time, the voice of Rod Seling says, "Perhaps there are places you visit, old haunts from your past; and maybe these places bring back a certain energy of youth. Maybe they make you feel somewhat young again. Let that be enough, from lessons learned, in the Twilight Zone."


End file.
